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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/23287903">Love Lockdown</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorlett/pseuds/Sorlett'>Sorlett</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Multiple fandoms - Fandom, Not show related - Fandom, Original Story</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>ArasBulutIynemli, BarışArduç, BurcuÖzberk, COVID19, Confinement, Coronavirus, Drama &amp; Romance, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Friendship/Love, Male Friendship, Male-Female Friendship, Multi, Romance, UrazKaygılaroğlu, Virus, ÇağlarErtuğrul</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-03-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-03-27</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 10:47:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>8,193</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/23287903</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sorlett/pseuds/Sorlett</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Burcu, usually called Ju, moves in a new apartment right before a home confinement is ordered by the government to help stop the spread of a deadly virus. For months, she will be stuck in a building with, for closest neighbors, Baris, Uraz, Aras, and… Cal, a man with whom she shares not only a history, but also a reciprocated hatred. Or as she believes. The four men, Ju, and all their other neighbors will go on a journey, discovering in this hard time what it truly means to live in community, for better or for worse.<br/>A story about love and humanity.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Cal &amp; Ju (Caglar -Burcu)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>30</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Day one.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>« Yes ma’, yes I’m almost done, I’m taking the last things out right now” Ju almost dropped her phone as she was trying to pull up a heavy box out of the trunk of her car.<br/>
“No I’m fine, I swear!” she reassured her anxious mom the best she could. “Ma’ I gotta go now. Call you back. Yes. Love you too” she sighed as she hung up. Ju loved her mom to the moon and back but jeez her worries weren’t helping her deal with this already anxious situation. </p><p>“There had to be one girl” she grumbled, “One girl ! Out of all Istanbul, who had to change apartment when the city is going into confinement and this had to be me. One girl ! I swear to…-”</p><p>“Hmmm… Do you need me to carry this for you ?” a low voice interrupted her mumbling. Ju turned around and almost dropped the box she had finally been able to lift.</p><p>“Jesus you scared me !”</p><p>“Sorry” the tall blond guy who came out of nowhere took a sip out of his juice box. “I’m Uraz. I live right there.. And my offer still stands”.</p><p>Ju paused to look at him, trying to determine in a split second if he was a truly good guy or a bad guy pretending to be a good guy. Ah those skills women have to develop.  </p><p>“Burcu, but everyone calls me Ju” she conceded to give him her name, but that was it. “Thanks but I can handle this on my own”.</p><p>“Are you sure ? I don’t want to be rude or anything, but this seems pretty heavy for you..”</p><p>“Yes I’m sure !” she wasn’t .“I carried the last nine box on my own without a problem” she didn’t. “Thank you very much.” He looked doubtful. “And haven’t you heard of the rule of social distancing ? Haydi hop hop hop, stay 1 meter away from me”.</p><p>He actually had to contain his laughter. Damn this woman had temper. “Okay, you’re right… But let me at least hold the door for you” he took the initiative as Ju looked like she was about to fall on the ground at each new step. She passed by him and sighed.  </p><p>“Are you always annoyingly behaving as a gentleman ?”</p><p>“Doing my best” he retorted, getting acclimated to her sarcasm. “The elevator is right there.”</p><p>“I’m taking the stairs. Some say it’s better for the health”.</p><p>“Fine” he wouldn’t dare to contradict her even though he thought she was crazy. “See you upstairs. Or not”.</p><p>“See ya” she barely managed to breathe out. Of course, he got to his apartment in less time than it took Ju to climb 5 steps, but that was the advance he needed to warn his roommates.</p><p>“Guys you won’t believe what just happened !”</p><p>“Let me guess, you fell in love at the grocery shop?” his ‘dark and twisted’ friend, as Uraz liked to describe him, answered from his chair without taking his eyes off his book.</p><p>“Ahahah real fun Baris”. </p><p>“Oh was it at the bank ?” he finally look up and smirked at Uraz.</p><p>“Would you st-?!” he didn’t even finish his word. “There was this girl down stairs, I think she’s moving in our building”.</p><p>“And you fell in love with her” Aras, one of the other roommate who just got off the shower, kept the joke running for Baris biggest pleasure.</p><p>“Shut up ! Why do you all keep assuming I fall in love with any girl I meet ?!”</p><p>“I don’t know man.. Any guesses ??” Aras, unbothered, kept his towel running on his hair. Oh they knew and Uraz knew he had history when it comes to that, but let’s not get into it. </p><p>“What’s going on?” </p><p>“Uraz fell in love” Baris and Aras both made the joke.</p><p>“Again !” Cal joined the party.</p><p>“Not you Cal. Not you too.”</p><p>“Eh” he crossed his arms, amused.</p><p>“You’re supposed to be the nice innocent guy of our group.. truly those two have a bad influence on you.” Uraz took an accusing tone. It’s true he did look innocent, with his shirts always impeccably ironed and his smiling eyes. Even more on the days he was wearing glasses. But that is something Cal didn’t want to hear.</p><p>“Me, innocent ? Man you don’t know me well” Cal teased but wouldn’t say more. It’s true they didn’t know much about him, Cal had moved in the colocation only 6 months ago after… Well after he had made a mess of his life.</p><p>“Always said he’s a fake shy boy” Baris grumbled while trying to focus again on his book. “He’s probably the worst of us”.</p><p>“Sakin sakin.. As long as you live here, you get the title.” Cal defended himself.</p><p>“What did I do again?!” Baris pretended to be offended.</p><p>“I think the question is more who did you do” Aras intervened.</p><p>“Gonna break your face man” Baris suddenly stood up and Aras took a step back laughing. Those two, they never stopped fighting…Unless, of course, they agreed to fight another guy of the apartment. </p><p>“So who’s this girl?” Cal asked Uraz, used to ignore Baris and Aras arguments.</p><p>“A new girl ! On our building ! She seems nice.. Though she might be insane.”</p><p>“I like insane.” Cal smiled.</p><p>“Well good luck with that. It might be too much to handle for me.”.</p><p>“Moh what happened ? Did she break your heart already?”</p><p>“Shut up” Uraz retorded as a figure of speech, but all four guys indeed stopped talking all of the sudden, as they heard the sound of a key unlocking a door not so far. The building was so old there was no sound-proofing whatsoever. And so no intimacy between neighbors. Sometimes, they would swear they were hearing parts of the fights between the couple living on the 1st floor, even though they were at the 10th. Well, the fact that those two had never gotten used to closing their windows didn’t help… but that’s not the subject. </p><p>“Wait…” Aras whispered, as them four approached slowly to the door of their apartment. “Is that…” they kept hearing some loud noises, “..is that coming from the apartment right downstairs?”. The four held their breath as Aras slightly opened the door of his apartment. There were only a few steps separating them from the door of the one down below, and it had never been occupied since any and all of them had moved to the building. </p><p>“Oh shiiii-“ Aras swore as he saw a brunette walking out the door, so he closed theirs immediately. He was hoping she didn’t notice their presence. </p><p>“Uraz..” he whispered “the girl you talked about, she’s got straight dark brown hair, a jean, white top, around 1m60-1m65, 27 years old, 28, or so ?”</p><p>“Yeah I think so.. I guess…” Uraz looked a bit caught off guard.</p><p>“Dude you sound like a cop” Cal got scared too. </p><p>“Eh, in another life, I could have been one.” Aras shrugged. “I think it’s her. Damn, if she lives right here she’s gonna be on our back all the time” his thoughts were racing through his head. No more parties, no more screaming, fights, loud sport sessions.. No nothing. They had gotten used to live on a floor where either the other apartments nearby were empty or their neighbors were not home most of the time. And the rule of confinement that they all knew was about to be decided any time now by the government wouldn’t help their situation. </p><p>“God Uraz what did you do earlier ?” Baris spoke up.</p><p>“Nothing I was very polite and…”</p><p>“No ‘and’ tamam mi?!” he cut him short. “We need to be friends with her. Only friends. We already got enough people hating us on the building, we can’t add another one. Especially living this close.” </p><p>It’s true they didn’t have the best relationships with some of their neighbors. If the elderly tend to love them, cause there was always one to help in case of need, the other ones… Would get intimidated pretty quickly by a colocation of four men. That was probably because they were, in fact, intimidating. Pretty quickly after their arrival, they had gotten used to team up to interfere in people’s lives when they felt one in the building – their building, as they liked to say- needed protection, or on the contrary some deserved a good lesson. Some other residents found their 100% male colocation a bit weird. Maybe it was, indeed weird, but not for them. Thanks to this way of living, they could afford this giant apartment with all the comfort you could asked for, and an amazing view on the Bosporus. They didn’t care much about gossip anyway. As a matter of fact, they were the ones gossiping all the time.</p><p>“He’s right” Aras doubled down, to Baris surprise. “If Baris says she’s out of touch, out of all people…” of course, he had to add that.</p><p>“Man that’s a universal rule.” Baris said in the most serious tone. “You don’t go after a woman who can make your life a living hell. Even I am not that crazy. It’s… basic common sense.” </p><p>Cal shook his head in disbelief. “Aren’t you guys a bit… dramatic?! We don’t even know anything about her yet… hell we haven’t even said hello to her. Except for him of course.” Cal pointed at Uraz.</p><p>“Oh things happen fast, you know they do Cal. And you think we’re being dramatic ? Okay so picture this…” Aras put his arm around his friend’s shoulder. “..One of us try something out with her, it doesn’t work out, even if it’s simply because she’s not interested, do you imagine the awkwardness every time one of us will go down stair? Afraid to meet her, not knowing what to say… Hell even in our own apartment we won’t be able to say anything in case she hears us.. And what if some of us become friend with her but not the one who messed up, and what if…- ”</p><p>“Tamam tamam got your point bro” Cal cut him short. Aras often got carried away in his speeches, and trust Cal, on this either Aras is right or wrong, the best way to make him stop talking is to agree to whatever he had to say.</p><p>“Also I just told Cal she seems to have a pretty good temper” Uraz added in a low voice.</p><p>“So that settles the case even more. No panties parties between neighbors.”</p><p>“No panties parties” all guys repeated after Aras, and each put their right hand on top of the other’s one so seal the deal.</p><p>“God I hope she didn’t hear that..” Baris added as they heard again some noise coming from the other side of their door. During the time they had taken to make their oh-so-stupid deal, Ju had had time to get back to her car, take the last box of her stuff and get back to her floor. But that, the guys didn’t know, and so wrong guessing she was coming down and not up, they opened again the door, eager to all get a look at their new out-of-touch neighbor… who definitely caught their gaze. She paused. They froze. </p><p>Ah they didn’t look smart with all their heads clustered at the door. Ju wasn’t quite sure if she had to laugh or get worried.</p><p>“Can I… help you with anything?” she asked hesitantly.  </p><p>“Ah ! That’s the same question I asked you earlier! Remember?” Uraz broke the guys shameful silence.</p><p>“Oh God…” Ju whispered, wondering in what crazy place she had just took a step in.</p><p>“No no, it’s not what you think !” Aras opened the door wildly and took a few step towards her to check her hand. “Excuse my roommate, he can seem a little bit weird sometimes…-“</p><p>“Hey!” Uraz protested.</p><p>“But he’s like an innocent sheep deep down…” Uraz was not sure he liked the metaphor, but now was not the time to start a debate. “I’m Aras.”, he continued, offering his hand as a sign of friendship. Ju kept looking at him silently so he tried to reassure her more. “We… We’ve never had a neighbor living in this apartment before you, before today I mean. So it came as a surprise for us.”</p><p>Ju eyed him down from head to toe, weighing the pros and cons of yelling at her new neighbors for their first encounter.. Especially a group of…</p><p>“How many of you live here?” she asked abruptly.</p><p>“Oh, we’re four.” Aras lighted up as he saw in her question the opportunity to do proper presentations – although he discretely put his hand down as Ju hadn’t dropped her box to check it.<br/>
“So there’s Uraz, who you’ve already met as I’ve…heard” he swallowed, “Baris here, an asshole, but he’s our asshole” Aras joked and stared at his roommate, knowing it would enrage him. Ju looked amused, he took that as a very good sign. “And then there’s…” Aras stopped for a second, as his last roommate got closer to the doorstep.</p><p>“Cal…” Ju muttered with something close to rage strangled in her throat. The man had stayed a little bit behind until now, covered by Uraz and Baris, but now.. Now she could see him.</p><p>“Ju ? Oh no…” he let out, as panic took control of his soul and body. The other guys all stayed still, wondering what was going on. </p><p>“He lives.. He lives with you?” Ju asked Aras, “as in… we’re gonna be neighbors?!” </p><p>Aras simply nodded, feeling a suffocating tension suddenly invading the air. That’s the moment Ju chose to finally put her box down. All looked at her doing so, without saying a word, then still so silently saw her walking up the stairs, each step sounding like a melody played for the frontline soldiers before a war. All had stopped breathing, Cal himself was staying completely still, his heart pounding out of his chest, ready to face the inevitable… That’s it, she was on his floor, getting closer and closer and…</p><p>Smash. She slapped him in the face, as if her body was driven by dark forces and he had resigned to his fate. His face endured the hit, his jaw clenched. He didn’t have much to say, he was pretty sure he deserved this one. </p><p>All men were baffled.</p><p>“So hum…” Baris tried to re instore a dialogue. “I take you two know each other… ?!”</p><p>“Yes” Cal said.<br/>
“No” Ju responded in the same time.<br/>
“Sadly” he added.<br/>
“Unfortunately” she confirmed.</p><p>“Should we ask…”</p><p>“No” both retorted immediately. </p><p>“Well…” Aras came back upstairs, “that’s not exactly how we wanted our presentation with our new neighbor to look like but…hopefully you’ll like the rest of us!” he smiled to relax everyone.</p><p>“Oh trust me..” Ju answered him, even though her eyes were still locked on Cal, “I’ll necessarily like you guys more than him, it won’t be hard”.</p><p>“Pretty dark history between you two uh?” Aras dared to ask.</p><p>“You can say that. I’ll let him fill you in with the details” that’s all Ju chose to answer.</p><p>“Why does this keep happening to me…” Uraz mumbled in his beard, but everyone heard.</p><p>“What?!” one asked, and Ju finally turned around.</p><p>“Nothing, nothing” he grumbled, trying to make himself look smaller.</p><p>“Well Ju..” Aras took the lead of the conversation once again, “it was nice meeting you, I’m very glad you’re our new neighbor…” he wasn’t so sure about that actually, given the actual ambiance, but kept hoping for a brighter future. “If you need anything, we’re here, you can just knock at our door, or directly come inside” at that point Cal’s eyes widened in disapprobation, if not panic, but that didn’t stop Aras “…there’s always someone here anyway”.</p><p>“Well yes I guess so, with the confinement about to drop on our heads any day now…” Ju made him remember.</p><p>“Oh true, true…I almost forgot about that, with the apocalypse going on right on this door step” he joked, and oh, huge victory, that made her smile again for a second. As long as she wasn’t looking at Cal, she looked like a very sweet girl actually.</p><p>“Thanks for the invite anyway” she conceded, and this time took the initiative to shake his and hand, decided to make it clear to everyone she wasn’t some psycho running around slapping everyone in sight. God knows what he might tell them about her she thought, so she had to win some points right now. “But I’ll think I’ll have to pass if I want to avoid a certain someone…” she cleared her throat. “Although !” one idea came to mind. “I might throw around a party once I’m installed, of course if we’re still allowed to reunite, to get to know you guys better. And the other neighbors.”.</p><p>“Forget about the other neighbors, we’re the best ones out there” Baris joked around. </p><p>“We’ll see about that” She smiled back. “Of course, you won’t mind if you’re not invited..” she looked back at Cal.</p><p>“Of course, as you wish” Aras reassured her, worried to not let whatever war this was start again. “In this building, we respect and protect women’s will. They’re in charge, we obey.” him and Baris laughed.</p><p>“That’s if you don’t forget what you’re supposed to do, uh Cal?”</p><p>Well, not much luck avoiding the fight after all..</p><p>“I already said it was an accident Ju, what more do you want me to say?!” he got defensive.</p><p>“I don’t know, say you’re sorry…?”</p><p>The other guys were lost once again.</p><p>“I already apologized a thousand times”.</p><p>“Well apologize a thousand and one more time.”</p><p>“I’m going back inside, I’ve heard enough” he took a step back, as she was getting on his nerves.</p><p>“Yes you do that. Running away is your classic move.” She provoked him one last time.</p><p>“Ju I swear to God…” he pointed a finger at her.</p><p>“What do you swear? uh?!” she defied him, her cheeks getting red. She might hate him, but she knew he was completely harmless. That was about the only quality she could recognize in him at this moment.</p><p>“Nothing… Never mind. Welcome in the building” he ended the conversation and this time truly came back inside his flat. Ju bit her lips. Oh she could have kept on fighting with him for hours, but… Damn how much time had passed ! Ju still had so much to do in her apartment to just be remotely close to be installed tonight.</p><p>“Thanks!” she responded ironically, then just had a small talk with the guys, to be polite, before running back downstairs. </p><p>All guys closed the doors pretty quickly too, dying to know more about what was going on.</p><p>“What was that??” Uraz asked Cal who was taking a beer out of the fridge.</p><p>“You don’t want to know”.</p><p>“Hell yes we do” Aras stepped in. “So what happened between you two?”</p><p>“I’m not sure I’m at liberty to say. It might make my situation worse.” Cal admitted shyly before taking a sip. Honestly, at this moment, he almost wish he would choke on his beer and disappear somewhere far far away. </p><p>“Okay then just tell us… How much deserved was that slap? On a scale from 1 to 10?” Aras kept pressuring him.</p><p>“I don’t know.. Maybe a 5..6” Cal admitted.</p><p>“Okay he’s at a 9” Baris concluded.</p><p>Cal kinda nodded, he couldn’t contradict him on this one.</p><p>“See, I told you he’s the worst of us” Baris referred to their earlier talk. </p><p>“Like you’ve never been slapped by a woman..” Cal forced him to remember.</p><p>“I don’t know what you’re talking about” he lied. But luckily for him, that was not the subject right now. </p><p>“So… Cal.. What are our chances of us getting along with our new neighbor when she’s that mad with you?”</p><p>“Oh you’ll see, she’s pretty adorable usually…” he regretted those words actually came out of his mouth. “I mean... When she’s not a tyrant, she’s a decent girl”.</p><p>His friends looked at him weirdly, but a scream coming from downstairs interrupted their thoughts.</p><p>“Are you.. Sure about that?” Aras joked, as the timing of Ju’s scream couldn’t be any worst.</p><p>On the apartment down below, Ju had missed falling on the floor after jumping on her kitchen counter and kept swearing to ease her stress. She needed to get used to her knew environment, but right now, her priority was to find something to eat. Anything. Ju wasn’t the kind to skip a meal. Ever. Sadly for her, the entire kitchen was empty. There wasn’t even a tomato can or whatever hidden on top of the cupboards, no nothing.</p><p>“Well I’m gonna die of starvation, that’s it” Ju dramatized, as she looked around her empty living room. All she could do right now, was to sit on her mattress – she didn’t even had a proper bed at the moment, even less something close to a couch- and watch some tv. She had no money, and everything to buy before…</p><p>“And that’s it ladies and gentlemen, the government has officially imposed a full lock down for the whole country, starting tomorrow at 8.pm, as to slow down the spread of the virus” the woman on the news announced on her tv. “No person will be allowed to go out unless case of emergency, and to buy products of first necessity”. Ju swallowed hard. “All stores except grocery ones will be closed and work outside home is strictly prohibited”. </p><p>That was… The actual insanity of the world right now.</p><p>Ju’ put her tv on mute not long after that.</p><p>‘Full lockdown’. The words kept ringing in her head like an alarm close to give her a headache. How could she manage to do anything in time? She had practically everything to buy by tomorrow night, being fully aware people in panic would rush in stores. She might be the most independent and strong women you could imagine, but there was no way she could do all this on her own. Her parents were living far away, her close friends were on the other side of the city..</p><p>“Oooooh shhhhi-“ she grumbled, aware of what was her only option left… Her only help left.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Day 2.</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>For a first night in her new apartment, Ju slept like a baby. All the stress and emotions she had lived the day had almost had the effect of hungover : she woke up from her deepest sleep ever, her mouth dry and a head about to explode. And that’s without mentioning the terrible back pain she felt. Was it due to the boxes she had lifted yesterday, or because her cat had spent the night lying on her lower back ? She couldn’t tell. Anyway, it was already 8a.m, and Ju knew she would need every minute of that day to be remotely close to be ready for the confinement. She dragged her own body to the kitchen but…</p><p>“Of course…” she grumbled, as she realized there was no coffee here. There wasn’t even a coffee pot for all she knew.</p><p>So she went to the bathroom, took her clothes off almost reluctantly, the air was so cold, then put her feet in the bathtub and… </p><p>“Oh for God’s sake !!” There was no hot water. Ju had to speed up, she hated cold shower more than anyone else in this world.</p><p>However, nothing was about to stop her on this day, and so after emptying her suitcase full of clothes on her mattress and taken the first – okay, third – thing she tried on, she rushed to the grocery store. Her priority: eat, eat, eat. Unluckily, it seemed to be everyone’s priority that day, even though most of them had already everything they needed in their kitchen. <br/>She was about to jump out of joy inside the store when she found her favorite type of bread in it, and there was only one left, but a 40 years old or so lady rushed to take it before her. Ju tried to cooperate with her, but it didn’t seem much like this woman’s priority. Ju didn’t want to raise her voice, especially against someone older than her, but at some point she felt the need to, and one thing leading to another… The crazy woman pushed her against the side of an aisle.</p><p>“What is wrong with you??!” Ju screamed as she tried to recover from the hit, but the woman was already gone.</p><p>Sh*t. Ju was bleeding, her head had bumped onto a corner and she had taken the hit right on her eyebrow. </p><p>How am I supposed to do know?!” she got desperate, the blood dripping on her face. No one around seemed to care, to the point where she wondered if they even noticed what had just happened. She thought of buying some tissue to try to stop the bleeding but of course, of course… People had already taken all the tissue in the store.</p><p>She couldn’t do much in this condition, she knew it, and the manager of the store, who was the first one to see her bleed, asked her to go out as to not spread blood everywhere.</p><p>It was only 10a.m, and she already had to get back to her apartment, knowing full well she had just lost her entire morning.</p><p> </p><p>“Miss.. what are you doing here?!” an grumpy man whose green vest was as old as him yelled at her as she walked by the entrance.</p><p>“I’m-“ </p><p>He cut her short.</p><p>You can’t enter this building, who opened the door for you?! Oh I’m sure it’s one of those four …”</p><p>“That I can assure you is not the case… No. I’m the new tenant on -“ Ju again couldn’t finish explain.</p><p>“In what condition are you?! Are you homeless??! You can’t take refuge in this building Miss get out get out!” he mimed hitting her with his cane. </p><p>“No.. no ! ouch! It’s not what you think!”</p><p>“Ju?” She immediately recognized Cal’s voice and her blood ran cold like every time she felt his presence. He had just gotten back all sweaty from a jog, knowing it would probably be his last one for months to come.</p><p>« Oh what happened ?!” Cal noticed the dried blood on Ju’s eyebrow the second she turned around, and instinctively approached his hand to take a better look at her injury.</p><p>“Don’t touch me ! » her voice went so high it even surprised herself.</p><p>« Ju don’t be ridiculous ! You’re hurt. ”   </p><p>“Is she your girlfriend ?”</p><p>“NO!” both answered outraged. And Ju added “ As I was telling you, I’m the new tenant on the 9th floor”.</p><p>“You won’t mind if I call the owner to confirm this?” the old man looked suspicious.  </p><p>“Be my guest” Ju was definitely starting to get pissed off, so she walked away to shorten the interrogatory, and vainly hoping she would also get rid of Cal.</p><p>“Wait, wait !” he had to run up the stairs to keep up with her.</p><p>“I’m fine stop pretending” she grumbled not even looking back at him, and still hurrying up.</p><p>“Pretending to what?”</p><p>“To care!”</p><p>He had to bite his lips again, she was getting on his nerves.</p><p>“I’m just trying to be polite!”</p><p>“Don’t bother I won’t return the politeness!”</p><p>“Ju for one second stop acting like the devil”</p><p>“Me??! Me ? Are you serious ?”</p><p>“You… you are really the most… Annoying… Crazy person I know.“ </p><p>“We don’t know each other!” she knew she would hurt him like this.</p><p>“Oh go to hell!”</p><p>“I’m already there, I’m the devil remember?!” and she slammed her door on those words, leaving him hanging alone with his rage in the doorway.</p><p>“Great!”  Ju heard him yell, and a few seconds later he slammed his own door.  </p><p> </p><p>“Dude, you’re okay?” Uraz asked as he saw Cal walking in the apartment like Terminator, body all tensed and hands clenching into fists.</p><p>“I’m fine ! Don’t I look fine?!” he shouted back.</p><p>“Jeez… I’m just being polite man”</p><p>“Politeness is overrated haven’t you heard?!”, Caglar, on those words, decided to lock himself in his room.</p><p>“I’m sure it’s about… “ Aras whispered and leaned his head in direction of the door “…You know…HER”.</p><p>“Of course it is” Baris intervened. “Haven’t you heard him last night ? He kept walking in and out of his room. At 3a.m I even spotted him sitting on the balcony..” </p><p>“If he goes insane.. I’m outta here” Aras warned.</p><p>“Oh really? And how so with the confinement ?? We’re gonna be stuck with him all day long.”</p><p>“F*ck.”</p><p>“Talking about that, you got everything we need? You know I need my 200g of meat per day, gotta keep those muscles in shape” Aras pretended to be kissing his biceps, which made his friends roll their eyes so hard.</p><p>“Or you can do like me and become vegetarian.” Uraz was still trying to convince his two roommates and probably biggest meat eater of the city.</p><p>“The day I do that, you can bury me in a pit” Aras retorted, and Baris added on top “I’ll meet you there”. He kept on going : “But don’t worry, I got everything we need, check this out”. </p><p>Baris opened the door of the store room behind the kitchen, and, to Uraz and Aras biggest surprise, they could see on the bottom of the shelves tons of packages of rice, pasta, and tin cans of all sorts. On the other side of the room, the freezer was full of dried meat.</p><p>« What the f- man ?! » Aras was speechless. “Don’t tell me you went stealing all this weekend that from some old lady at the store ».</p><p>« Of course not, I’m not insane. I just brought them back up from the garage. I’ve actually bought them over the months after calculating the average ratio of calorie per man for a day then progressively reduced to the minimum need of protein and carbs in order to survive 10 to 12 months.”</p><p>“Yeah, not insane at all…” Uraz couldn’t help his sarcasm.  </p><p>“Man I just bought 2K of m&amp;m’s and I thought I was already over the top” Aras commented.</p><p>“You’re always over the top. You’re the absolute definition of over the top” Baris shot back at him but all men knew it was that kind of little comfort that would make the confinement go a little easier.</p><p>If there was one about to realize that the hard way if she didn’t resign herself to get help, it was Ju. She had just gotten to stop the bleeding on her eyebrow and kept pacing around her living room. She had lost three precious hours in an already very short day, and had to admit that with the panic going around the city, she probably wouldn’t be more successful to get any and everything she needed during the afternoon. <br/>She didn’t want to call her friends to come help her out, because making them cross the whole city was dangerous now. Sure the confinement wouldn’t be officially in place until 8.pm but it was no reason to let them take such big risks during the day. Plus she was sure they also had their own urgent problems to deal with like everyone else during this time. No, they weren’t an option. </p><p>No she had no other option than… God she didn’t even want to say it out loud. She knew Cal wouldn’t stop making fun of her if she dared to ask for help given their last discussion. After much deliberation, and praying to all the forces of the universe that she would only encounter the other guys, she forced herself to walk by their door. Ju stayed right there for a little while, her fist ready to knock, but her mind wasn’t. Finally, she took a deep breath… And she banged.</p><p>“Be in the bathroom be in the bathroom be in the bathroom be in the bathroom be in the bathroom be in the bathroom…” she kept murmuring, her head down and eyes on the floor.</p><p>“Be in the bathroom be in the bathroom be in the –“</p><p>“You… want me to go to the.. bathroom?” Aras was staring at her with his eyes wild open, not quite sure how to react to that what he just heard. </p><p>“No no” she whispered, anxious not to be spotted by a certain someone. She tried invite Aras to get a little bit out of his apartment, but he didn’t move much.</p><p>“I need your help. See I got nothing in my apartment and everything to buy and – “</p><p>“Ju are you hurt?!” it was Aras’s turn to notice the injury on her eyebrow.</p><p>“Whatever… “she really didn’t care. “Can you help me out or not?”</p><p>“Of course !” Guys, Ju is here ! She needs our help !!” Aras shouted so loud she was sure the whole neighborhood heard him. Aras : not one you can count on about discretion, it was duly noted. To add on top of that, he took her by the sleeve and pulled her in his flat.</p><p>“Hi” both Baris and Uraz smiled at her at soon as they saw her face walk by the door. She answered vaguely, her eyes looking everywhere to see if Cal was here. No trace of him at the second, so she took it as her chance. She had to hurry.</p><p>“So what do you need our help with?” Uraz asked.</p><p>“So as you know I just moved in yesterday, I know, wrong timing, and basically… I got nothing. No food no equipment no nothing” she answered a little bit ashamed.</p><p>“How come you don’t have anything with you?” Uraz thought it was weird, probably as the two other guys.</p><p>“Long story short? I used to rent an apartment on the other side of the city, furnished, but the owner wanted it back for the time of confinement, I think it was to give it to his cousin...So he threw me out.”</p><p>“I’m pretty sure that’s illegal…” the cop in Aras rose again. </p><p>“Yeah well given the situation in the country it was not the time to argue in front of a judge. He knew that.”</p><p>“What an assh*le” Cal couldn’t help himself to intervene, standing in the hallway, shoulder against a wall and arms crossed, a few meters away from everyone, and especially from her. He had heard Ju’s voice from the second she was at the door – he could recognize it between thousands – and couldn’t help himself to check what was going on. </p><p>“Thanks for your input” she immediately took a kick at him, like a warning to stay back. Cal didn’t react, he knew why she was like this with him. All the other guys pretended they didn’t hear anything and got back to the subject.</p><p>“So... What can we do for you? Do you need something here? Baris bought tons of stuff by the way” Aras saw the opportunity to get rid of Baris’s insane amount of supplies.</p><p>“No, no thank you, but... It’s just everything will close after tonight, as you know...So I wanted to go out by everything now but there’s panic out there. A woman even hurt me this morning over some bread… Some bread, can you imagine?” Ju finally explained to the boys how she got her injury. All looked concerned, and Ju let them take a look at it, to Cal’s biggest annoyance. But he didn’t say a word this time, he had learned his lesson.</p><p>“Okay so let me get this right, you want us to come with you? Like your bodyguards? Oh we could ask Serkan to come help for that” Uraz immediately thought of his pal doing this for a living.</p><p>“Something like that... Or like my personal shoppers...” she asked shyly. She hated asking for help. “With the time I’ve lost this morning, I won’t have time to buy much by tonight.”.</p><p>“Okay you know what? Let’s go to the mall. There’s one not far away. That way we can split between shops, it will take far less time to get you all you need.”  Aras stood up as the one organized on this, much to everyone’s surprise.</p><p>Ju didn’t have to say one more word, all got ready in a second. </p><p>“Come on Cal take your jacket you’re coming with us” Baris threw at him as he saw his friend standing completely still.</p><p>“That won’t be necessary” Ju tried to argue, but Baris wasn’t gonna buy it.</p><p>“You need help or not? Then the more the merrier”. He was right, she knew it, but still.</p><p>“Listen to her, she does whatever she wants anyway” it was Cal’s turn to protest.</p><p>“We don’t have time for your idiocy right now.” Baris wasn’t getting into this debate.</p><p>“No wait-“ Ju tried to stop Baris one last time.</p><p>“Do you want to survive or not ??!” Baris in all excess yelled at her, and when Baris yelled, people tend to shut up.</p><p>Ju and Cal exchanged a look, and both could swear they could feel the turmoil in the other’s head. Anyway, no time to think more, Baris almost pushed them out of the apartment.</p><p>“Wait” Aras made everyone take a stop as they were walking down the stairs. “How are we gonna get everything back here ? You need to buy voluminous things?!”</p><p>“I don’t have a couch, or a proper bed for that matter”.</p><p>Hearing Ju’s words, trying to keep her stress out of her voice, Uraz got an idea. It wasn’t conventional, but it would solve the problem in no time. </p><p>“Let’s take Coskun’s van. He never uses it anyway. And I know where he hides his keys in his office.”</p><p>“Coskun?”</p><p>“He’s the concierge of our building” Uraz explained and Ju immediately understood he was referring to the old man she had met in the morning.</p><p>“That is also 100% illegal my friend” Aras kept playing his part.</p><p>“But you hate Coskun” Uraz made his friend remember.</p><p>“Good point. Let’s do this” Aras was suddenly much more convinced.</p><p>And that’s how the five of them, after Aras distracted Coskun while Uraz took the keys, ran and jump into the van, laughing like five years old kids proud of the trick they had just pulled. Of course, Baris was driving, while the four others were sitting in the back. <br/>It took less than 30 seconds for Ju to plainly realize she was stuck right next to Cal, and even less time to feel her body tense completely. Both stayed silent and let the others do the talking. But there were bumps on the road, and at one bigger than the other, Ju about to fall gripped his arm by reflex… Oh what had she done. Cal stared at her fingernails dug into his skin, as if threw them came rushing back on his blood all the memories of what they had lived together. Ju took her hand off the second she realized what she had just done and cleared her throat, trying to get herself some composure back. He stared at her for a second, but she wouldn’t look back this time. She was a wall, a beautiful, painful wall.</p><p>“Here we are” Baris warned the guys they were finally at the mall, and all rushed to the center of the place.</p><p>“Okay guys” Ju had thought about how to proceed on the way there, “let me give you this”… She put cash in all their hands, except Cal’s, so she would be sure none of them would pay with their own money. “I think it would be easier if I go buy the heavy furniture, since it’s more personal… Which one wants to do the grocery shopping ?”</p><p>Aras raised his hands, he was probably the only guy on earth with a passion for shopping food. Uraz and Baris volunteered to get the rest needed for her day-to-day life. She realized how lucky she was to have them with her, because her lack of experience in that field made her unaware of the number of things she needed to actually have”. </p><p>All three rushed in the stores, leaving Cal hanging like an idiot, with no instructions given. </p><p>“What about me? What can I get for you?” he tried to ask softly.</p><p>“Nothing. Just… Stay there. Go for a walk. I don’t care”. Again, a wall. She tried to walk by him but he stood in front of her.</p><p>“Come on Ju. I’m here. I might as well just help.”</p><p>“Oh I know how things turn out when you pretend you will help”.</p><p>“Ju don’t do this right now…” he tried to reason with her even though he knew he had little to no chance to succeed.</p><p>“Do what?!” she got closer to him so nobody would hear them. “Do what? Remind you that you are completely unreliable?! That you’re just a manipulative sick perverse…”</p><p>“Is that really how you see me?” Cal asked. He had guessed that’s how she felt for all the months she had refused to speak to him, but hearing it for the first time, it still hurt.</p><p>“Cal you left me naked in the middle of nowhere” she muttered through clenched teeth. He paused, the memories rushing back through his head were making him blush, out of shame, and out of… everything. She could feel that, and the more she felt it, the more she was enraging.</p><p>“You weren’t n-….” Oh he saw in his eyes that she would slap him if he dared to finish that sentence. “And I didn’t ‘leave’ you..” </p><p>“Oh yeah? How do you call you going away and me staying there then, you dumb*ss?!” </p><p>Oh he could tolerate a lot, but he made a big deal out of insults, and she knew it.</p><p>“Okay… Fine. You want to know what leaving means?! Here, you go” Cal had had enough and stormed out of the mall. If she didn’t want to hear his side of the story, so be it.</p><p>“Ah your specialty!” Ju yelled at him but he didn’t bother to turn back around, and simply waved his hand in annoyance. </p><p>Ju put her hand on her face, to cover her eyes and try to get this discussion out of her system. She didn’t want to talk about it, she didn’t want to think about it. No, right now, she needed to focus on herself, and what she urgently needed. So she swallowed hard, raised her head high, and started to run in the stores like the rest of the guys. </p><p> </p><p>All of them indeed met about two hours later. Only Uraz was late – he was always late –, and finally came back with a big surprise : he was carrying a giant teddy bear under his arm. </p><p>“What on earth…” Baris thought it was an hallucination.</p><p>“What?! I thought it was cute. It will fit just fine in your apartment no?” Uraz was actually serious. </p><p>“Sure” Ju laughed. The only thing she could think of, it’s that her cat would probably tear the poor teddy bear apart in less than two days. “Come on guys, we need to take off the furniture I bought before they close. They didn’t have everything I need, but I’ll manage”.</p><p>“Don’t worry, you don’t need furniture to survive” Baris reminded her and all looked at him as if he was some weirdo. This coronavirus thing was definitely getting to his head.</p><p>In no time, thanks to those four men’s strong arms, they put the console and bedspring she had bought in the van, along with everything else they’d bought. It was getting dark, they had to rush back home.</p><p>“Cal isn’t coming back?!” Aras finally dared to ask, as none of the men had seen him in the mall. They could feel something was wrong.</p><p>“He didn’t stay, we got in a fight, whatever...” Ju wouldn’t look at any of the guys in the eyes.</p><p>“Are you sure?” Uraz intervened.</p><p>“Pretty sure yes.”.</p><p>“I don’t want to get into the middle of anything but you guys will have, at some point, to figure out a way to speak to each other…” Aras dared to say, but seeing he got no answer from Ju, he decided to take things into his own hands, and so warning the others, he texted Cal. </p><p>-	Man where are you?</p><p>A few seconds later, he got the confirmation he needed.</p><p>-	Back home. </p><p>Not knowing exactly what to say, he preferred to show his text to everyone.</p><p>“See… Typical.” Ju grumbled… But she didn’t want to ruin the ambiance, so she moved on from it pretty quickly. “Anyway… what did you guys get me?” she asked as they were finally heading back home. </p><p>Truth be told, she hated the position they had put them in and could spend her lifetime thanking them if she wasn’t so ashamed about it.</p><p>Aras opened his bags first, and showed her all the unhealthy food he had bought for her. She would probably get 20 pounds if she ate all that, she thought, but she also loved that it was comfort food. At least, she wouldn’t starve anymore, that was the most important for her who hadn’t eaten in almost two days now !</p><p>Then Uraz made her take a look at all the crazy stuff he had bought : she was now the proud owner of dishes for kids, all pink or pale blue with dots and figures of Disney’s heroes. Apparently he thought she was still a child. He didn’t know her well, but he sure made her laugh. </p><p>Baris told her about how he took among other things, a medical kit for her – she protested, but he reminded her of her morning’s injury – and a swiss army knife. She had no idea what to do with it except open a bottle of wine, but he promised her he would teach her different ways to use it.</p><p>“How do you know all that?” Ju dared to ask.</p><p>“I had to take care of myself pretty young” he answered, not going into the details. All knew he had had a rough childhood, but he seemed over it. More or less.</p><p>In the end, all they had bought would help her get through the days of confinement without much worries, and that was already more than she thought she’d get when her morning started. </p><p>Getting inside the building wasn’t easy as Coskun was waiting for them, enraged after realizing they had taken his van. Uraz put the keys back in his hand and thanked him for the unwitting help, and all climbed the stairs in a hurry, laughing under Coskun’s admonitions. He was a grumpy old man, but the guys assured Ju he wasn’t as bad as he pretended to be.</p><p>After a little chat on the doorway, and her declining their invitation to come drink a bear at their place – she felt she had already abused of their kindness, also, she was absolutely exhausted – she closed the door of her now little less empty apartment. </p><p>She just put some CD in her player, opened one of the many candy bars Aras had bought for her, and let herself fall onto her now proper bed, still standing in the middle of the living room. Her cat decided to come there to and give her a hug. She needed it, he probably felt it.</p><p>She thought she would immediately fall asleep, but all the emotions she had felt that day were taking time to fade away. </p><p>It was now 11p.m, and she still was lying perfectly still, when she heard a knock on her door. Who on earth could come see her at that time? She was praying it wasn’t a mad Coskun. Slowly, she found the strength to get back up, and to walk to the door. She opened it… </p><p>No one was there. No one, but at her feet, on front of her doorway, there was a giant box. </p><p>Ju looked left and right, but there was still no sign of anyone. Confused, she decided to take the box inside, and carefully opened it…</p><p>Ju’s eyes widened so big, she was almost in state of shock. Inside the box, there was a plant, an orchid, her favorite ; next to it, an old lamp that looked exactly like the one at her grand-mother’s house. And at the bottom of the box, she found two blankets, featuring embroidered birds, one for her, and one smaller for her cat. She recognized those items, she had seen them once, in one of her favorite shops, on the corner of main street. She had always dreamt to buy one of those. </p><p>She took her blanket out of the box, and put it on her lap, looking at it in owe. As the song ‘Read my mind’ by The Killers started to play in her radio CD, she just stayed there, trying to hold tears inside. She was almost smiling, although she didn’t realize it.</p><p>Only one person could have bought that for her. Only him.</p>
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